Hell or High Water
by EmilyAnn003
Summary: It's been nearly a year since the incident at Harvardville airport and almost double that since now 19 year old Emily met the man who would play one of the most important roles of her life in the place that would be the root of all her nightmares. When she gets dragged to Russia and is reunited with the very thing that killed her family, will she be able to make it out?


_Hi guys! This is the latest installment to my Resident Evil story, and I know I said that It's Only Just Begun would be the final one, but come on. I'm just terrible at goodbyes. So! Here's this, I've been working on it for a while now, no I'm not finished yet, I just couldn't wait to post at least the first chapter for you guys. I've missed writing so much and hopefully I'll get to keep regularly updating this story throughout the summer. I've already got most of it written and I really do hope you guys like it. (Oh yeah and I changed the title of It's Only Just Begun to This is Just the Beginning because I was replaying RE2 and Leon said it at one point and I thought it just sounded a lot better, haha. Oh and the title of this one might change as well as I get to dabble with the story a bit more.)Enjoy! _

It was about mid-October of my sophomore year in college. I was prepping for my exams as usual, trying to conjure up some bullshit answer for the reason why Homer decided to kill Patroclus in the Iliad and what purpose it served to the story, when I glanced at the clock and realized that I was late for my study date. Well, it wasn't a date; it was just a get together with the guy who sat next to me in my history class.

"I don't care, I don't like him," Leon stated matter-of-factly once I told him I was leaving. He insisted there was something suspicious about Todd (the guy from my class) and was constantly reminding me of it.

"Leon, I told you he's _fine_. He's just a normal guy who's new around here and just happened to come to this school at the wrong time. All I'm doing is helping him catch up before finals, okay?" I smiled up at the dirty blonde, but he still wasn't convinced.

"Still don't see why you need to go on a date with him to do that," he muttered quietly, but loudly enough to reach my ears.

I sighed and slowly walked over to him. He was standing by the island in his kitchen and I placed my hand on it for stability as I stood on my toes to kiss him.

"I am yours and you are mine and that's it. There is no one else to be jealous of. I am yours completely and totally and you're the only one who can change that." We kissed again and when I saw his lips turn up the slightest bit, I hugged him before apologizing and grabbing my keys to leave.

"Hey, if he tries anything on you, remember everything I've taught you and do that to him times ten!"

I smile and roll my eyes as I shut the door. I know he means well, but would it hurt him to trust my own judgment? Then again, he had always been right about his "bad feelings" before…

While in the car, I thought about what Ash had said when I brought it up with her. _"He's so jealous!" _She exclaimed giddily.

"Well yeah, he _is_ a guy," we both laughed. "But, I mean, I don't know… back in Spain any time he had a bad feeling about something, he was always right. And then again with that thing at Harvardville… What if there _is_ something weird about him?"

"Come on, Em, you're thinking way too hard about this. I'm sure everything will be fine. And if it's not call Leon and he'll beat him half to death for you."

As I pulled into the parking lot of the Starbucks we were supposed to meet at, I supposed she was right. If anything happened, Leon was only a phone call away.

I sat down at a table near a window and pulled out my laptop and a few of my notebooks. Checking the clock, I realized I was almost ten minutes early and simple doodled on the margins of my notebook, thinking about how much my life had changed within the past 2 years. I was only seventeen when I met the man who would play one of the biggest roles in my life. The first words I had ever said to him were my name. My mind flashed back to the exact moment we met...

…

_"What's your name?"_

_"E-Emily. Emily Ryan." I stammered._

_"Her name's Emily Ryan." He said to the woman._

_"Okay. I'll contact her parents and-"_

_"You can't." I said._

_"Why not?" The man asked._

_"They're dead."_

_…_

Suddenly images of my parents being murdered flashed before my eyes as if it had just happened a day ago. I subconsciously dug my nails into my skin to keep from sobbing in the middle of the coffee house.

_Focus on the good times…_ I told myself. Only two minutes had passed since I had arrived.

Following my own advice, I began bringing back memories of Leon from Spain. When I had been kidnapped by Saddler, injected with the parasite (just the thought of it made my skin crawl), and wound up back at Luis's (a wave of sadness washed over me, but I quickly dismissed it), and when he and Ashley found me she told me how worried he was. Just like the time at the island when I had been knocked out cold by those parasite infected freaks. How he was there when I awakened, and how comforting his embrace was; it made me feel as though I was safe again. The way he looked at my left me feeling giddy then and now. I was suddenly reminded of our first kiss and smile spread across my lips; God I sure was brace, but I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

It was right when I began thinking about all those months we spent training together, he mostly taught me self-defense moves, when Todd showed up.

"Hey!" I smiled as he sat down.

"Hey," he returned my smile as he got comfortable in his chair. We ordered coffee and pulled out our textbooks while we waited on them.

About ten minutes later, as we were jotting notes trying to remember what our professor taught us the day before, Todd suddenly spoke with a different tone in his voice.

"So who's Leon?"

I looked up startled and he must have seen the quizzical look on my face before I said anything because he gestured to my notebook. My face turned a shy pink as I realized I had been doodling Leon's name along the margins of my notebook while I waited on him.

"He's uh… my boyfriend." I said, and I couldn't read Todd's face. It looked like he wanted to smile, but attempted a poker face.

"That's sweet. When did you two meet?"

"Uh, we met when I was 17, but didn't actually, uh…" I didn't know why I was being so awkward. I mean, he was just being friendly. "Well, it was sort of complicated at first."

"Oh? Do tell," he said motioning for me to continue. "Come on, I'll buy you another coffee?" How could I resist?

"Okay so basically when I was 17 we met under some… pretty unusual circumstances, and I, being the hormonal teenager I was, developed this enormous crush on him. I mean, he was so perfect in every way to me…" I assumed the way I said that last part so dreamily made Todd chuckle. I smiled and took a sip of my coffee before continuing. "Anyways, once everything was normal in our lives again we kept in touch over the summer. Since I graduated early I went off to college in the fall and we didn't talk much after that. And then a few months later in some more pretty weird circumstances we met up again and got together not long after that. And now… here we are…" We both smiled and then he asked, "And what were these 'unusual circumstances' you speak of?"

I chuckled nervously. "Maybe I'll tell you about them some other time… So what about you, are you seeing anyone?"

He sighed and shook his head. "No, not at the moment. It's been rather difficult lately to make such a commitment because of the job I have and now school and such."

"Oh, you have a job?" I asked curiously. I worked part time at a local restaurant to pay bills, and my college tuition was fully paid off, do to scholarships and the money I had inherited after my parents' death. "Where do you work?" I asked.

He grinned a sly grin and looked at me through his eyelashes as he wrapped his lips around his straw to take a sip of his coffee. "I'll tell you about it some other time."


End file.
